You may have noticed that I use the term “information overload” a lot. Heck, I even call myself the “Info Overload King.” The question is though, what exactly does information overload mean and where did the term originally come from?

Well, the term information overload initially came into everyday use sometime around the 1970s. Alvin Toffler called it “infobesity” in his book, Future Shock. The term basically means an overabundance of information.

Never has this been more the case than in the world of Internet marketing (IM). Do a basic internet search on Google for Internet Marketing and 333,000,000 results come up. That’s a LOT of potential information overload.

You see, in IM everyone has an angle. Some of the sites are legitimate and others are scams. When you’re new and just getting started, it’s hard to know the difference because they all look the same. You don’t want to lose out on a great money-maker, so you sign up and start getting those emails. Then another site promises something better and you sign up for those emails too. Soon it’s an avalanche of emails and you not only have information overload, but you’re getting buried under the avalanche.

So, what do you do?

Well, here’s a few of the things I have learned that can help combat all that information overload:

First, unsubscribe from all those mailing lists. There are only a few you need to be following and I’ll tell you about those in a future post. For now, unless the emails are from a program that you are actually paying for and using — get rid of them.

Write out a short weekly list of “To-Do” priorities for your business. Have a clear purpose for what you plan to do each day when you get on the internet. If you are researching how to build a website, stay away from the marketing ads that can run you astray.

If you are online with a purpose, but you can’t seem to stop checking out (and signing up for) all the latest IM sites, get up and simply walk away. Clear your mind and remind yourself about what you are really suppose to be doing. Come back to the computer only after you have a clear goal in your mind about what you need to be working on.

Finally, choose one marketing plan to follow through with and stick to it (at least for a month). I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I have gotten drawn into the next “sure thing money-maker” while I was still playing around with the last sure thing money-maker. See, here’s a little secret that a lot of people don’t seem to realize. Almost any of the legitimate IM plans will work. The problem is — most people don’t want to follow through with them, and move onto something else before they see the payoff. The key to conquering information overload is to choose one direction and stick to it. Trust me. I’ve been there. I know how hard it can be, but in the end that really is all there is to it.

I will conclude with this…there are plenty of ways to make money online, but until you are profitable in ONE way, everything else is a distraction! FOCUS!

47 replies to "How To Conquer Information Overload"

I am one of the new kids on the block, BUT I have not made the mistake of signing up for anything and everything. But I am connected with people that are helping me through this awesome journey. You know something George, we can overload on so many things, but the practice of self-control is essential even on the internet.
Thank you for this post. Mr. King

Thank you so much for your comment! I’m glad that you haven’t made the same mistake as so many others have when starting out.
When embarking on a new endeavor, such as starting an online business, it’s so easy to sign up to multiple email lists.
This can have disastrous results, as I can attest to personally. Thank you again for your visit!
I wonder if your new name for me will catch on…”Mr King”?

Now this is a post that makes sense. Having read “The Third Wave”, Alvin Toffler had great vision about the Future. We all live in the Information Age. No escape – it seems!
My sentiments exactly to dump the “hype”. Running any business requires the “law of nature” – in other words; ONE needs to focus, put the effort in and apply intelligence (think SMART)to be successful.
You could draw a comparison between IM and farming; they require similar principles in that to harvest a healthy crop it needs the preparation and knowledge before yielding the benefits – sound familiar?
Good luck George
Kind regards, Gareth

Thank you for stopping by! We have things in common, because your comment makes just as much sense!
I love your methodology regarding the “law of nature” as it pertains to running a business.
I also appreciate the analogy you used comparing IM & farming! Absolutely brilliant comparison!
Thanks again, Gareth!

Great post mate. I was one of those guys, moving from one extreme to the next and not moving forward. I totally agree to un subscribe from anyone you don’t need. I have so many emails that come in, it would probably take a morning to un subscribe.

As for the shiny object syndrome. I have done well so far this year. I have only bought what I need and I am chuffed with that. I usually fall for the traps. Like you say George, stick to one project at a time. However, I’m working on two. I need to, playing catch up.

Thanks for your input! I appreciate it!
Staying focused is extremely vital to one’s success, yet it is so difficult to achieve.
With all the chaos out there, it’s easy to fall into traps.
I applaud you, Donald for making great progress this year.
I look forward to hearing your success stories!

Snake oil salesmen references make us smile today – we would be far too sophisticated to get caught these days
And then we sign up to an enticing email offering thousands of dollars for five minutes work a week. Before we know it we are on a 100 different email lists and the noise is deafening. We run here and there on an hourly / daily basis.
George, thanks!
This a great advice – time for us to sign off and wake up (maybe reverse order?). You have to face it …………….REAL work will bring REAL rewards. Chasing the end of a rainbow will not. Keep up the good work of reminding us!

Thanks for your kind words! It’s always a pleasure to hear from you.
Yes, the snake oil salesman are rampant these days!
It takes a keen eye to avoid them. Yes, being on 100 different email lists would create a chaotic situation in one’s life.
There is absolutely no need to put oneself into that situation. Please keep in touch!

Thanks for the visit & for the great comment! I’m glad you liked my post.
I agree…in trying to make things simple for my readers, I gave a time frame of one month to try out a certain business model.
It is a rather short period of time. However in many cases, as you said, many don’t stick with a model for even that period of time.
Tragic! Thanks again!

Thanks for your comment! I love your common sense approach to online success…find a problem & solve it for others.
Most fail because there are many unscrupulous marketers out there preying on beginners.
The key is choosing one niche & sticking with it, until it’s profitable.
So, inquiring minds want to know what has been profitable for me, huh?
I’ll be honest, Bonnie…currently, I deal in vintage items on eBay, plus I have an offline niche that has done quite well for me. I may get into Amazon eventually, but not until I’ve accomplished my goals on eBay. Remember, focus on one thing at a time!
Thanks again, Bonnie!

Good post. As you say, focus on one project and see it through. Don’t read, (or watch videos) about anything else until you have complete it. Most people fail at IM because they give up.
I would be interested to hear about what you are working on now.
All the best
Roger

Thanks for stopping by! Always great to hear from you, my friend!
That’s the key…FOCUS! Most people fail because they don’t have a vision or plan for their business.
Without a plan, it’s easy to fall astray & just give up. So sad!
Anyway, that is not you! You’re doing fine work! Keep it up!

You were reading my mind! LOL! This is what I have only recently realized, and have started doing the unsubscribe. All those shiny distractions are just that distractions. Thanks for the reminder. Best Regards, Wendy

Thanks for the comment! I’m glad you were able to relate to my post & that it had special meaning for you.
That’s what I’m here for…to remind others to be alert & not fall into the same abyss that nearly destroyed me.
Thanks again!

Unsubscribing is a biggie, you’ll never get anything done with all those tempting emails telling you how to make money faster and easier than ever before.

Then just focus focus focus. Two tips I use are:

1. Write 3-4 things on a post it note the night before then make sure i get those four things done the next day, preferably before lunch. If nothing else you’ll feel you achieved something.

2. Get a wall planner with a full year on it and stick it on the wall by your desk. Everyday you achieve step 1 above, mark a big red cross on the planner. After a few days you won’t want to break the chain – its a great motivator.

I’m the original bright shiny object queen! Why do I do it? Lack of patience seeing results.

But being in Sue’s group is helping me to focus on just my Minerals business.

Very pleased with myself – I just resisted the temptation to sign up to a monthly traffic program. Yes, I have regular unsubscribe blitzes, but mostly I just bulk-delete email if I haven’t filtered as “known”.

Great to hear from you! It’s great to meet the info overload queen.
I’m also quite impatient. that can lead to great peril in one’s business.
It takes discipline & a focused plan of action, in order to succeed in business, and in life in general.
Thanks again, Joy! Keep in touch!

Thanks for the comment! I’ve found that I usually need to hear the same thing over and over again several times before it truly “sticks.” Once it does finally take, however, it can really make your life a whole lot simpler!

Hi George! Thank you so much for this post! David never had as much of a problem with this issue as I have. I love to read and research. I also tend to love all the different ideas that get thrown in one’s direction. It’s been hard but we are finally getting settled into a main area of Focus and getting more clear with our direction.
I just want to add that it’s too easy to get overwhelmed with so many ideas and information but it will get better with time, patience, prudence, and the wisdom to be practical. I know this from experience and have grown from it as well. I have learned a lot from this phase I was in of being overloaded with information and I am thankful for it. It does take some recognizing and control but it also gets better in time.

Don’t you look back at yourself during this phase and chuckle a little, knowing that you were still crawling and trying to learn to walk? lol I do!

Thank you for your comment. A friend of mine use to call that mental block “analysis paralysis.” Unfortunately, I think most of us suffer from it at some point. I guess we should just call it part of the learning process!

Well you know that I’ve been there and done that so I’m so glad I’m not a newbie any longer. I think most newbies run into this issue, especially if you aren’t sure which information you really need. It can become very overwhelming.

Your plan though is spot on. I had people opt-out of my list and email me apologizing and letting me know they are just on too many at the moment. It doesn’t hurt my feelings at all because I understand. They have to pick what is working for them at the moment and that’s what everyone should do.

I hope they can take your suggestions here and they’ll be much better off. I wish I had in the beginning but that’s okay, lessons learned right!

Thanks for stopping by! I think part of the problem is — that there is a lot of GOOD information out there and most of us don’t want to miss out on ANY of it. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough hours in the day or days in the month to go through all of it, but…we don’t realize that when we are first starting out. It only comes to us later on when we gain experience! 😉

Ok, I made the classic newbie mistake a couple of years back and am still paying for it. What I’m finding now is that there are some of those not so above board marketers that will not take your name off their list even when you hit the unsubscribe button. Worse yet, some of them don’t even have one. So I don’t waste time, I haven’t bothered to pursue complaining. It’s just easier to hit the delete button. Thanks for the tips.

I’ve run into a few of those type of marketers myself. One thing I finally did was create a separate email address to use when I subscribe somewhere or want to receive a newsletter. That way, my day-to-day inbox isn’t getting clogged with a bunch of stuff that I may or may not read.

Unsubscribing is clearly a strategy that has advantages. No endless stream of the ‘new and best ever products that will have you making money today’, promotions unlimited, etc.
There are so many good sites that can show you almost anything in one place.
When it comes to more info…Just say no! 🙂
Applying, rinse and repeat. Then, more info as needed.

Thanks for stopping by! Yes, it will certainly eliminate a lot of that “new and best ever” type emails that clog up the inbox. As you said, there are some good sites out there and once you find them that is pretty much all you need.

Hi George
Great post! I think most of us are guilty of subscribing to everything when we first start out in the hope of finding an easy way of making money from all the promises in the sales copy… you have given the best advice, stop receiving all those useless emails hit the unsubscribe button now!
I used to have so many products collecting “dust” on my hard drive at the beginning but I soon came to my senses and deleted them.
You must make a plan and follow through, jumping from one thing to another will not work.
Have a great day my friend.
Pauline

I love this thought of yours when you say that almost any of the legitimate IM pograms will work and that the problem is that most people don’t want to follow through with them, and move onto something else before they see the payoff.

That’s spot on man.

People want everything now and do not understand it takes time to build a business, it doesn’t matter if it’s online or offline, it just takes TIME.

They are playing slot marketing here, hoping to hit it big by buying some get rick quick program and then expecting to become rich in 24 hours, that’s just not real yet they still keep looking for a big easy red button and falling for these kind of offers.

Good thing that you are very well aware of how distracting the Internet can be George and it’s awesome that you are learning how to be more focused and less distracted while working online!

Thanks so much for this great comment! Man, you hit it right on the nose. People want the quick fix these days.
They don’t want to work hard for what they want to achieve. They want it handed to them on a silver platter.
Life just isn’t like that. Unfortunately, they learn the hard way. When things don’t go their way, many wind up falling by the waste side.
Luckily, that doesn’t pertain to you or myself. I know we both work hard for what we’re striving for. Rock on, my friend!

[…] the email link to the article and read it several times and everything George said made sense (link to article). It talks about all the emails that arrive in your inboxes every day from all those mailing lists […]

Well hello George, thanks goes to Barry Wells for pointing me in your direction and this very timely post.

I am in the process of going back to basics and for once actually making a plan that I can take forward and actually follow. As you say, focus on one business growth strategy and after a period review how its performing and whether you can stand to keep doing this, if its generating an income then it can be outsourced of course.

As for emails, you have it right, build a mastermind group that gives you the information you need and remove everyone else, have a junk gmail address for lists that you are not sure about but want the information promised.

Thanks for stopping by. I’ll have to give Barry a big shout out of thanks for sending you over too! I think you will see a big difference in how things progress once you find you are focusing on just the one plan. Let me know how it goes!

Thanks for the comment. Yes, you’re right. I think the actual rule of thumb is to go for three months and then evaluate. As you said, a lot of people don’t seem to have enough patience though, so for them — making it through the whole month can really be a struggle!